Arab-Jewish Relations and Contacts in Eretz Israel

Robert Weltsch relates that Brit Shalom started as an informal group of individuals loosely connected around an idea. He himself, living in Germany at the time, was not a member but sympathized with its goals, publishing articles in the Berlin paper Juedische Rundschau, of which he was the editor. He provides a historical overview of the situation in Palestine following the Balfour Declaration, specifically the growth of Arab nationalism which had been nurtured by the British as a tool in the war against the Turks. He recalls the efforts of members of Brit Shalom, following the violent Arab riots in 1921, to persuade the Zionist Congress to define future relations between Arabs and Jews, within the framework of the British mandate. Individuals such as Buber, Magnes, Kalvarisky and Kaplansky are mentioned for their belief in the need to reach understandings with the Arabs. ; From 1925 on Brit Shalom became organized under Arthur Ruppin's leadership, functioning as a research group, publishing a paper “She'ifotenu” (Our Aspirations). In practice, it was the Jewish Agency that began using people like Kalvarisky to make contact with the Arabs. Brit Shalom aroused deep hostility among the wider Jewish population, which was unable to accept the idea of Palestinian Arab national identity.